The Calm Blue Sea
Arrivals and Departures (Modern Outsider Records)
Reviewed by Kevin Curtin, Fri., Nov. 23, 2012
The Calm Blue Sea
Arrivals & Departures (Modern Outsider Records)For its sophomore effort, the Calm Blue Sea crafts mostly instrumental power lullabies that smoothly transition from lamb to lion in long, melancholic movements. Categorized as "post-rock," the local quartet uses the rock & roll toolbox of guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, and distortion to create music that ignores choruses, comfy chord progressions, and 4/4 time signatures to focus on timbre, theme, and composition. Arrivals & Departures might make good headphone listening for a flying dream, the moody, minor piano and guitar interplay slowly escalating into a tidal wave of countermelodies and exceptional drumming so densely atmospheric that it can help you dissociate from reality. While the range of music and emotion explored on Arrivals & Departures queues somewhat limited, within the parameters of its theme, this composition reaches some beautiful peaks.